Arthur Furer's work comes to life

As Arthur Furer's nephew, I was already able to benefit from the composer's great knowledge of music theory as a teenager. To this day, I still benefit from the foundation in harmony and analysis that my uncle taught me. While he was still alive, I was able to return the favor and explore his work in numerous concerts and recordings. In doing so, it was always important to me to win over performers from the younger generations.

As Arthur Furer only composed sporadically from the 1990s onwards due to a hearing impairment, he was actually most pleased to see his earlier works performed again. He then sat in the concert with his hearing aids switched off and attentively observed the stage and audience. He used to thank the musicians with an undiminished charming smile.

Composer, violinist, violist

The performers were very often his friends. First and foremost the violinists Rudolf Brenner and Ulrich Lehmann, but also the Bern Symphony Orchestra, where Brenner and Lehmann worked as concertmaster and Furer himself as violinist. Then there was the Bern Chamber Orchestra, where Furer was principal violist, the Radio Bern Chamber Ensemble, of which several recordings for solo instruments and chamber orchestra exist, and the Camerata Bern, for which he composed a virtuoso Music for strings wrote.

On the occasion of the inauguration of the new Inselspital, his work was Portum inveni premiered. For the 800th anniversary of Bern, he wrote the cantata Out of time and sufferingwhose premiere performance by the choirs of Neufeld Grammar School (conductor: Döfe Burkhardt) and the BSO was an event. Furers Solo Sonata and the Musica per Viola sola were the compulsory pieces at the first Max Rostal Competition for violin and viola.

Arthur Furer was a Bernese in Bern and for Bern. He was awarded the Grand Music Prize of the Canton of Bern in 1984.

Conductor, music teacher

From his marriage in 1951 until his death in 2013, he lived in the Petrus parish, where he also directed the church choir for many years. For decades he worked as a music teacher at the Marzili Municipal Teachers' Seminary. The exemplary recordings of the cycles date from this time Seasonal songs, Flower songs and Cathedral for elite women's choir. Furer was an extremely strict but also charismatic teacher, musician and conductor. His magnificent performances of Bach's Mass in B minor and Schubert's Mass in A flat major took place over 40 years ago, but remain unforgettable to me. In his late works, namely in Praise of the deity Furer expresses a pacifist and pantheistic world view.

Arthur Furer's music was never avant-garde, but always meticulously thought through, demanding in every respect and masterful in sound. He himself commented: "Not affiliated with any contemporary school, for each new composition I look for a personal style that serves the content of the work and suits me at the moment."

Association Music Research & Discoveries

The festival is organized by the Music Research & Discoveries association founded by Kaspar Zehnder in September 2023. The aim of the association is to research and discover new, little-known or forgotten music and to publish, perform and/or record it, which is a major concern of the association's founder. The association's activities are financed by voluntary contributions from members, donations and grants from third parties, income from events, sponsorship contributions and contributions from the public purse.

Further information and detailed program: kasparzehnder.com